Grizzlies Win 5th Straight in Victory Over Hand

May 1, 2023

April 10, 2017 was the last time a Guilford Varsity baseball team earned a win over Daniel Hand, but on Monday afternoon, the Grizzlies' ended a 13 game losing streak to the Tigers with a 5-3 win at Polson Field in Madison. While they ended one streak, they continued another by winning their 5th consecutive game, pushing their record to 11-3 on the year with 6 games remaining in their regular season.

Right out of the gates, it felt like Guilford was destined to finally break through vs. Hand when Sam Ametrano lead off the game with a homerun that wrapped around the "Polson Pesky Pole" in right, to immediately give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead. It was Ametrano's 2nd homer in as many games, part of an 8 for 16 tear he has been on with 2 homers & 2 doubles in the Grizzlies' last 4 games. Besides Ametrano's homer, the Grizzlies' were able to plate another run in the 1st on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 before Hand came to bat.

Guilford starting pitcher, Andrew Shosho, earned the win tossing 4-2/3 innings, while giving up just 2 runs with 6 strikeouts, while Bryce Meder got the save by pitching the final 2-1/3 innings in relief. Hand was not able to plate a run until the bottom of the 5th, as Shosho was dominant through the first 4 innings, giving up just 2 hits while striking out 6.

Hand starter, Brandon SanMarco, who shutout the Grizzlies back on April 10th, would not allow Guilford to score again until the top of the 4th. Carter Williams lead off the inning with a walk, then a few batters later Alex Vincent laced a double into the left-center gap that moved Williams to 3rd. Williams would score on another wild pitch by Hand, then Ametrano would loop a base hit into left to score Vincent for a 4-0 Guilford lead.

Hand would cut the Guilford lead in half when they scored twice in the bottom of the 5th on RBI singles by Sam Markovitz and Tai Nuzzi that made it 4-2. Neither team would score in the 6th, but Guilford was able to score an insurance run in the top of the 7th. 3 consecutive singles by Lucas Deshefy, Lucas Ametrano and Mike Buccaro loaded the bases before a run would score when Carter Williams was hit by a pitch to make it 5-2, Grizzlies.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Tigers would score a run on Nick Antonetti's RBI single and had the bases loaded with 2 outs, before Meder got the final Hand batter to fly out to Joe Tafro, who ran a long way to make the play in foul territory along the left field line.

Sam Ametrano had 2 hits and 2 RBI including a HR, and Lucas Deshefy & Lucas Ametrano also had 2 hits in the game. Colin Pompano & Alex Vincent both had doubles.

On Wed. (5/3) Guilford will try to continue their win streak when they play their first home game in almost 2 weeks against the West Haven Blue Devils, another team they lost to earlier this year. Then the Cheshire Rams will be at GHS on Friday afternoon (5/5) - both games start at 4:00 pm.